L7 



SPE ZEOHI. 



INVESTIGATION OF THE ELECTORAL FRAUDS 



eral h de?atl- being aS ** Gommittee of tne Wnol e on the State of the Union for gen- 
Mr. LOCKWOOD said : 

Mr. Speaker : In the few words wbiah I have to say at this time I 
will speak not as a partisan, but as a citizen, and shall address myself 
mainly to the question, what is the duty of Congress at this time 
touching the bill or the subject-matter of the bill introduced by the 
gentleman from Maryland, [Mr. Kimmel,] which was referred to the 
Gommittee on the Judiciary, reserving for some other occasion the 
questions of fact and of law involved in its future consideration. The 
question now to be considered is : Shall Congress, by the enactment of 
the necessary law giye to the Supreme Court the power and authority 
to hear and investigate the alleged frauds of the election of 1876 and 
upon such hearing and investigation to determine judicially and for- 
ever who were elected to the offices of President and Vice-President 
of the United States for the term commencing March 4, 1877 ? 

The great majority of the people of this country, without distinction 
or regard to party, desire to know whether a government which has 
asserted and maintained its power and authority among the nations 
of the world for a century, which has emerged triumphant from 
the most gigantic civil war known to history, is now to have its fair 
fame and the national honor tarnished through the inability of the 
people or the people's Representatives to resist the insidious and seduc- 
tive influences of power and patronage, or whether there is still left 
strength and courage sufficient to detect and punish fraud and crime 
though it may touch the highest officer under it. Can it be that the 
power of a great nation is to be exercised only upon its weaker citi- 
zens, and that when a crime has been committed against that nation's 
life it is powerless to protect itself? The honest men of business the 
men of daily toil, deny it. They love their country, they love truth 
and justice, and they remember how much the founders of this Gov- 
ernment sacrificed to secure the God-given right to select by ballot 
their own rulers; and many of them still remember the oppressions 
of foreign countries and what hardships they have endured in leavino- 
the land of their birth to obtain a home in this free country where 
they and their children might enjoy the blessings of liberty and the 
rights of men. 

They point with commendable pride to the strength and power of 
the Government in maintaining its existence and honor when attacked 
by an armed foe, and they cannot now believe that Congress, the great 
representative body of the people, will longer sit as in a quiet sleed 
when from every quarter of this broad land comes the charge that 



fraud has triumphed and that virtue and honesty no longer have a 
dwelling-place in the national heart. 

The right of the ballot is too sacred to be defeated by fraud and 
corruption. All party and political considerations sink into utter 
insignificance when compared with the right of the citizen to be pro- 
tected in the exercise of the elective franchise; and sorry am I for 
that man who has not patriotism sufficient to rise above all party con- 
siderations when the honor of his country is in issue. If fraud has 
been committed and can succeed, and if the ballot can be disregarded 
in one election, what is to prevent a repetition of the crime? The 
history of other nations teaches that one by one, step by step, the 
liberties of the people have been encroached upon; that if not resisted 
and overcome at first approach, the distance between the people and 
their liberties soon becomes so great that it is a gulf impassable, and 
the liberties of that people are lost forever, unless restored through 
the terrible ordeal of revolution. God grant that this nation may 
have the courage to face the truth, and avert the danger before it be 
too late. 

Sir, for one, and influenced solely by a sense of justice to the peo- 
ple and their rights, I am in favor of the most thorough and searching 
judicial examination and investigation that can be had. I care not 
what the result to individuals or political parties may be, provided we 
know the truth and justice triumphs. If fraud has been committed, 
let those who are guilty, whether high or low, rich or poor, be exposed 
and punished, and then let the beneficiary of the fraud likewise be ex- 
posed and punished. This investigation is due alike to each of the 
gentlemen who represented the two great political parties in the last 
Presidential election. Both of them being honorable men, it cannot 
be presumed that either would wish or for a moment consent to hold an 
office to which he was not honestly elected, and certainly no honor' 
able man, for the sake of holding office, would wish to go down to 
history with the dark cloud of fraud encircling his otherwise fair name. 
The present Executive, more than any other person in the country, is 
entitled to a full and fair judicial investigation of the whole matter. 
Justice to him strongly demands it ; and should the result of that in- 
vestigation establish that no fraud was committed in returning, count- 
ing, and declaring the electoral votes of the several States, then let it 
be so decided, so that the people may know and understand it ; and 
let the*evidence, the whole evidence upon which the decision is based, 
go to the country, so that the politicians and all others will be com- 
pelled to stop this cry of fraud, and like men acknowledge they were 
wrong, and that they have done an innocent man an injustice. 

Can you men of the republican party, afford to miss this precious 
opportunity to establish once and forever that you had no hand in any 
fraud or that there was no fraud in the election of President ; or have 
you feasted and fattened so long upon the public patronage of the Gov- 
ernment, that rather than take any chance of losing it you are content 
to forget your past history and surrender your honor and your manhood 
for place? You who are politicians may be willing, but the rank and 
file of your party never. 



T cannot, Mr. Speaker, subscribe to that policy which is often heard 
upon this side of the House, that it will be better for the democratic 
party to leave the whole matter as it now stands rather than press any 
further investigation; that the people now believe that a fraud has 
been committed and nothing can be gained or accomplished by giving 
the Supreme Court the power to investigate and decide the question, 
and that as a matter of political policy it is unwise to go further. These 
gentlemen would cry "Fraud, fraud," and yet would do nothing to 
disclose and punish the wrong-doers. They are loud in their denunci- 
ations of the President, the republican party and the electoral com- 
mission. Greater politicians than statesmen, I fear, they govern or 
seek to govern their actions, not by the rule of right and wrong, but 
by the effect it will have on the votes of their districts and of the 
country. To these and such as these let me say that the people of 
this nation are fast becoming dissatisfied and disgusted with politicians ; 
they are looking for men of principles, men who when they know the 
right dare maintain it, let the political consequences be what they 
may ; and they are demanding from the majority of this House such 
action as may be necessary to a full and fair investigation of all the 
alleged frauds in the election of 1876. Refuse their demand and their 
answer will be, "You are no longer worthy of confidence or support." 

Again, we often hear it said, " True, a fraud and wrong has been 
committed, but there is no remedy ; we can do nothing." I for one 
do not believe in such doctrine. I remember that law is founded upon 
reason and justice, and that reason and justice abhor crime. True, 
wrong never rights itself, but if a fraud and crime haye been commited 
there is a way to demonstrate and reveal it, and if it is in our power, 
and we neglect or refuse to exercise that power, we not only fail in the 
duty which we owe to the people, but we ourselves become a party to 
the fraud. Our inaction or neglect to use every legal and honorable 
means in our power to discover the truth, reveal and punish fraud, 
makes us accessory to the fraud, and even more contemptible in the 
eyes of the world than those who committed it. We lack the courage 
to expose and punish what they had the courage to do. Already 
there is a widespread fear in the land that the people's Representatives 
in this matter, as in too many others, act not from their convictions but 
from political motives. Has the time not come when the general good 
of the country and the welfare and safety of our institutions should de- 
mand our most earnest and best efforts without regard to the con- 
sequences which may come to party? Ought we not to demand 
justice, and thus restore confidence? Can we or should we escape 
censure if by our silence we aid in concealing the truth ? You who 
admit the fraud and crime answer, if you can. 

Another objection is urged against this bill or any other mode of 
investigation which, without consideration, suffices to satisfy a certain 
class of gentlemen who say it is better to suffer a wrong than to take 
the trouble to investigate and know the right. Briefly stated it is 
this : that notwithstanding a fraud may have been committed in the 
electoral count, yet we had better submit to it than to disturb, as they 
say, the business interests of the country. The people, it is urged, 



6 

want quiet. True they want quiet, they want peace, but they want 
neither at the expense of their personal rights and liberties. I know 
the business men, and by business men I mean the mechanics and the 
men whose sweat and toil have built our railroads, our canals, and 
converted the broad acres of this country into fruitful fields, and 
whose labor is the great foundation of the nation's wealth and pros- 
perity, and in their name I deny that they are willing now or ever 
to sanction fraud and crime for the sake of a fancied quiet. The law 
with all its vigor and severity is enforced upon the poor man when he 
violates it. Can there be any justification in not enforcing it upon 
others when they commit crime ? I protest against any discrimina- 
tion. 

The history of this Government has always shown that the great 
masses of the people, the business and the laboring men, when the 
safety of the Government was in danger were ever true, awake, and 
ready to defend their rights, their liberties, the nation's honor, the 
laws and the Constitution of their fathers. They know full well, and 
far better than all the politicians on earth, the worth and value of a 
stable and secure government, but with the 1 Government as with 
their business they cannot and will not suffer it to be even tainted 
with fraud. They demand equal and exact justice to all men ; that 
crime committed in high places shall be exposed and punished with 
the same promptness as if committed by the humblest citizen. The 
argument that it were better to submit to fraud and wrong rather than 
disturb business interests or the quiet of the State would, if followed 
to its legitimate conclusions, justify the usurpation of the Govern- 
ment by its office-holders ; it would deprive the people of the right 
of the ballot, for what would be the use of voting if the authorities 
in power can disregard the vote? But, fortunately, the method pro- 
posed will in no way disturb either business interests or the peace of 
the State. The law will quietly, but no less certainly and forever, I 
trust, determine who was elected President of the United States in the 
election of 1876. 

The passage of this bill or one similar in its character is demanded 
by the honest men of this country. They have read and understand 
the facts ; thej T know that to the candidate of the republican party 
was given the eight electoral votes of the State of Louisiana ; they 
know that this same candidate after he took possession of the office of 
President, instead of recognizing Mr. Packard, the republican candi- 
date for governor, as the legally elected governor of that State, and 
who confessedly received more votes than the republican presidential 
electors, recognized instead Governor Nichols, the democratic candi- 
date, who has since been governor of the State of Louisiana, and they 
believe by this act he impeached his own title. The people would 
like to know why, if the Hayes electors received a majority of the 
votes cast in Louisiana, and Mr. Packard received a still greater num- 
ber of votes, how it was Mr. Packard was not recognized by the Gov- 
ernment, and sustained in his office, if necessary, by the whole power 
of the Government. 

The same state of affairs exists in two. other States. In South Caro- 



8 

sion did not investigate or decide the questions of fact, but on the 
other hand, contrary to the wishes and expectations of all good men, 
they absolutely refused to hear any proof on the subject, and based 
their decision solely on technical grounds and the doctrine of State 
rights. Had they possessed the power and investigated the facts their 
decision would have been respected for all time to come ; but it is for 
the very reason that the proofs were not heard and because the facts 
were not investigated that the people are dissatisfied with that decis- 
ion and now demand at our hands a thorough judicial or other inves- 
tigation of the facts. They have a right to make this demand and 
we, their representatives and public servants, have no right to refuse. 
The people of this Government in their sovereign capacity are greater 
than their officers. Vox populi vox Dei. It matters but little to the 
people which particular man is President, but it is of paramount im- 
portance to them, to their liberties, and to the future safety of the 
Government that the President be that man who was legally and 
honestly elected, and not the man whose election was obtained through 
false and fraudulent returning boar^0 

Give to the Supreme Court power to investigate these facts. I 
have confidence that its decision will be just. It will not in a judi- 
cial investigation be governed by any party or political considerations. 
The reputation of the highest court in the land would be involved. 
It would be a golden opportunity to gain the respect and admiration 
not only of the people of this country, but of the whole world. 

It has been my only object to call the serious attention of the 
Judiciary Committee of this House and the attention of the coun- 
try to the great importance of this subject and its bearing upon the 
future of the nation. I have done so with great reluctance. In my 
judgment the stability and future permanency of this as well as every 
democratic form of government largely depends upon the power, abil- 
ity, and capacity of the Government to unearth the truth and to defeat 
and punish fraud. Fail in this and national decay will soon follow. 

Have we not reached that crisis in public affairs which so many 
nations have reached, and in which not a few have fallen, when we 
too must answer whether we, as a nation, have the virtue, the moral 
courage, and the political integrity to spread the naked truth openly 
before the whole world, let the consequences to individuals and polit- 
ical parties be what they may ? I, sir, have that faith in justice, in 
right, in the future of the country, and in the integrity of the people 
that I cannot for a moment believe that we, as the Representatives of 
the people, will falter in doing our duty, that we will hesitate to do 
right. We have a duty to perform, and cannot escape it if we would. 
The nation's honor and the people's rights we must protect and defend. 
Fraud must be exposed and punished, and truth and justice must pre- 
vail. 

" Be just and fear not ; 
Let all the ends thou aim'st at be thy country's, 
Thy God's, and truth's." 




021 051 479 K 



lina, Hampton, the democratic candidate, is governor, but the seven 
electoral votes of that State were counted for Mr. Hay^s. In Florida, 
Drew, the democratic candidate, is governor, but the four electoral 
votes of that State were counted for Mr. Hayes; and when it is re- 
membered that he required all of the electoral votes of these three 
disputed States to give him a bare majority of one in the electoral 
college, and that fraud is charged to have been committed in each of 
these States, I would ask if the people are not right in their demand 
for an investigation that will disclose the truth? Anderson has been 
found guilty by a jury of his peers of fraud in certifying to the 
electoral vote of Louisiana. The Packard Legislature of Louisiana 
elected a United States Senator, Senator Kellogg, and with this one 
act that legislature disappeared. The Senate of the United States 
passed upon the legality of his election and sustained the Legislature 
by admitting him to a seat in the Senate. Judge McLin, a member 
of the late State board of canvassers of Florida, confesses that Mr. 
Tilden was entitled to the electoral vote of Florida, and that it was 
secured to Mr. Hayes by fraud. 

I have not stated, nor do I intend to state, but a few of the facts 
going to show that Mr. Tilden was legally entitled to the electoral 
votes of those three States. What I demand is that the people should 
know the truth. This investigation is not a matter in which Mr. 
Hayes and Mr. Tilden are solely interested. It is a question of far 
greater importance. It involves the right of the ballot, the right of 
the people to self-government, and the permanency of our republican 
form of government. The facts are known ; they are openly admitted 
upon all sides. 

One other objection is named, and I believe that to be the last as 
well as the most dangerous in its results to the future interests of the 
country. It is said the question involved has been submitted to a 
tribunal created by Congress, and that tribunal having decided the 
question we are bound to submit to its decision. Gentlemen forget 
when they make this objection that this is a representative govern- 
ment, a government of the people ; that Congress possesses only such 
powers as are delegated to it by the Constitution and the people ; that 
the people have never delegated to Congress or to any other branch 
of the Government the power to barter and dispose of their right to 
choose their public officers, and, having chosen them, the right to 
their possession of the office. There is no such power in law, and the 
act of January 29, 1877, does not and could not grant or confer such 
a power. 

The people cannot legally be divested of their rights without their 
consent. The officers of the Government are but the servants of the 
people, and the sooner they so understand the better for them, the 
better for the future welfare of the Government. As a matter of fact 
the question as to which electors in the disputed States received a 
majority of the votes has never been judicially investigated and de- 
cided, unless you make the exception of the State of Florida, where 
the supreme court of the State, after a full investigation of the facts, did 
decide that Samuel J. Tilden was justly and legally entitled to the 
four electoral votes of that State. The so-called electoral commis- 



